


Christmas on a Starry Night

by EmeraldEyedFairy



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: M/M, Space Facts, alfred jokes about wanting to die at one point, christmas facts, he spends too much time on the internet, two dorks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-27 13:09:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13248903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmeraldEyedFairy/pseuds/EmeraldEyedFairy
Summary: Alfred and Ivan spend their first Christmas together.





	Christmas on a Starry Night

Alfred puffed out his cheeks and glared angrily at the sky. After decades of strife and conflict and passive aggression, he and his boyfriend were finally having Christmas together. For once Alfred had decided not to throw a big Christmas party to outdo England and show him what a failure his life has become. Instead, he wanted to have a nice white Christmas with Russia as they drank hot chocolate and cuddled by the fireplace that Alfred recently had installed. Unfortunately, the sky had different plans.

“Fredka,” his boyfriend’s tentative voice spoke up from behind him, “I don’t mind if there’s no snow.” 

“Not even a little!” Alfred fumed, ignoring Ivan as he tried to placate the younger nation, “On Christmas, the sky is clear and blue and perfect and I hate it!” 

Ivan giggled lightly, “Fredka, you’re being silly.” He gently wrapped his arms around his lover and hugged him from behind, placing a light kiss on the side of his head, “I’m Russian.”

“Why are you in a hurry?” Alfred asked as he absentmindedly continued to glare at the sky. He earned a light pinch for that. Alfred finally turned to acknowledge the other, “I see nothing wrong with you being Russian.” 

Ivan frowned, “Fredka, that’s not what I meant.” He moved back from the American and slowly turned him around to face him, “For me, snow does not make a magical evening. It makes an ordinary evening.” Alfred began chewing thoughtfully on his bottom lip as Ivan continued, “You’ve always been good at adapting, so adapt.” With that, he turned and went back into Alfred’s house, leaving the other alone in the front yard with a peculiar look on his face. 

He looked once more at the clear blue sky, but this time his face was lit up with childish glee. He gave a thumbs up to the sky and said, “Thanks dude! I know what I need to do.”

He wasn’t worried about Ivan finding out about his knew plans, the other would either be scrolling on Estonia’s blog (for some reason) or reading a book in front of Alfred’s new fireplace. 

Meanwhile, Alfred set to work. He did some quick looking around before determining the perfect place for a picnic with a view of the sky. He decided that it would be best to do it out in the country, about an hour’s drive away from his house, for the clearest view of the stars. 

Alfred had a home in Houston that he would stay at during the space race, he wanted to be close to NASA during that time, and he remembered looking up at the night sky and counting twelve stars and he was just amazed that there were so many in view. For that reason, he felt it better not to be in any sort of city. 

He decided against grilling. While Ivan doesn’t mind his food, Alfred understands that it’s not optimal for their first Christmas together as a couple. Instead, he googled a cute little restaurant that makes homestyled Russian cuisine that would be fairly close to the clearing, and determined that they could eat there for dinner. For some odd reason, they were open on Christmas. Alfred had been under the impression that no one was open on Christmas.

When everything was set up and in place, Alfred returned to his home to pick up his boyfriend, who had his nose in a book and a cat on his lap. Alfred took a moment to admire the man who looked so serene, so content, before loudly exclaiming, “Alright big guy! Time to go!” 

Ivan smirked, not looking away from his book, “I’m assuming you adapted.”

“You’re assuming correctly.” Alfred agreed cheerfully, “Come on! Get off your butt and let’s go!”

Ivan gave a small giggle as he closed his book and gently moved the cat off of his lap and onto the couch cushion beside him. He then stood up and slowly walked over to the coat rack, slipping on the massive things, before moving to stand beside Alfred. The entire time, the younger nation was getting more and more impatient. 

By the time his boyfriend had reached him, Alfred had gotten fed up and just scooped Ivan off his feet and carried him out the door. At Ivan’s yelp and mild complaining, Alfred just said, “You’re too slow and I have a lot planned.” 

He set Ivan on his feet at the passenger side door and opened it for his boyfriend, before moving over to the driver’s side and getting in. Alfred put a Christmas station on the radio and hummed along to Mariah Carey as he drove his boyfriend to the restaurant. 

Once there, Ivan seemed surprised at Alfred’s choice, but didn’t complain about it. After they were seated and comfortable, Alfred didn’t even try to read the menu, which was in Russian and not American. Normally Alfred would pretend to complain, but this night was supposed to be magical so he would let Ivan order for him. 

With dinner came appropriate conversation, or in this case Christmas in Russia. It began by Alfred’s comment on how this place is open on Christmas, which is a weird thing for him. 

Russia gave him an almost joyful look, “Well, Fredka.” And Alfred knew he was in for a history lesson that he didn’t not want, need, or ask for. 

He began by saying, “In Russia, this is just another December day. We don’t have our Christmas until January seventh. Although a few of my people celebrate it when you do.”

Alfred scowled, “That’s weird and dumb.” He received a kick under the table for that comment. 

His boyfriend continued, “Like Christmas in your country, ours is also considered mostly a Christian event.”

Alfred groaned and slid down his seat, “That’s nice dear.” Trying to be as obnoxious as possible.

Ivan ignored him, “After my revolution in 1917, around the time you and I stopped being friends, Christmas was more or less banned.”

“I crave death.” 

“After I stopped being the Soviet Union-”

“My favorite historical moment.”

“People were free to celebrate Christmas again. Alfred?”

“Hrm?”

“Get off the floor.” Ivan tried to sound annoyed, but his eyes were smiling at his childish boyfriend. After all, he behaves the same way when Alfred attempts to talk about things like Alexander Hamilton or the Fourth of July or other obnoxious things that Ivan just does not care about. 

After dinner Alfred took Ivan to the clearing in the middle of the woods where they could get a perfect view of the starry sky. Neither country was concerned with being murdered. Alfred lowkey wanted to die and Ivan was more scary than any would be killer. One look at the couple would think that Ivan was the stronger of the two, but Alfred could be just as scary if he chose to. He just preferred to be annoying instead.

By the time Alfred laid down the large blanket, the bright moon was already full in the sky. 

Alfred sat down and turned his face to the sky, his blue eyes bright, and gazed at the stars in wonder. He turned his head to talk to his boyfriend about it, who by this time sat down next to him, but found Ivan’s gaze on him instead. The other was looking at him with a look of wonder and amazement. 

Alfred frowned, “What’s on your mind, big guy?”

Ivan didn’t answer him for a moment. When he did it was to ask, “How long did it take you to find this place?”

Alfred thought about the answer, “Probably about three hours. Why?”

Ivan smiled and turned his gaze to the sky, “I do enjoy it when you spend your money on me, after all I understand how much it means to you.” Alfred frowned, but Ivan continued, “But I enjoy it even more when you spend your time on me. I’m old fashioned, I prefer homemade gifts as opposed to expensive, store bought things.”

Alfred’s face took on a more passive expression, “So in English?”

“This is perfect.”

Alfred smiled, a small yet genuine thing, “Well you’re welcome big guy! Now, I chose this spot specifically so we could see as many stars as possible and so I can prove that I know more about space than you!”

Ivan giggled again, “Well, good luck Fredka. You may be smart, but you’re rather dumb compared to me.”

Alfred rolled his eyes, “Fine, then whoever can tell the other something about space that we didn’t previously know, wins.”

“I know everything about space.” Ivan pointed out.

Alfred’s eyes flashed, “Prove it.” He challenged. 

Ivan began, “If a star passes too close to a black hole, it can be torn apart.”

Alfred shrugged, “Obviously.” He pointed out, “A black hole is a space so tight that even light can’t get out. Sometimes they’re even created by dying stars. It makes sense that a black hole would be enough to tear apart a star.” Alfred paused, “A big enough one could even destroy the sun! Wouldn’t that be cool?”

“That would be a fascinating way to die.” Ivan murmured in agreement, before encouraging, “Your turn.” 

Alfred decided to start off easy as well, “Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system.”

“Yes.” Ivan agreed, “Which is interesting, because Mercury is closest to the sun.”

Alfred laughed, “You know, winter is the season where the sun is closest to my home, yet it’s also the coldest season. I wonder if the two are related somehow…”

Ivan didn’t take his eyes away from the sky as he guessed, “Perhaps. Venus is hotter, yet further away, because it has a lot of gases in its atmosphere.”

“The Greenhouse Effect.” Alfred commented.

“Correct.” Ivan nodded in approval, leaning back on his elbows to get a better view of the night sky, “I wonder if the seasons temperatures as opposed to the planets’ atmospheres are causation or correlation.” He paused as he took a sip of the hot chocolate that Alfred had brought in the thermal, “Is it my turn?” Alfred hummed in response and Ivan informed, “The highest mountain in this solar system is Olympus Mons, which is located on Mars.” 

Alfred, who had leaned back as well, sat up quickly and excitedly, “Oh dude! I heard about that! As soon as I did I immediately went to Greece’s place, for obvious reasons, and I asked him if it was possible that that’s where he got his gods living on Mount Olympus.”

“It wasn’t?” 

“Nope,” Alfred shook his head, “But he did provide a philosophical discussion about space and mythology which was… interesting. At least the space part.” 

“I imagine it was.” Ivan mused. 

Alfred continued, “Alright, it’s my turn. Back on the topic of black holes, did you know that it’s possible that there could be white holes? Like filled with only light and nothing else and a massive collapsing world destroying gravity!”

Ivan nodded, “Of course! Anything is possible in space!” He sounded almost as excited as Alfred, “We haven’t found any evidence of a white hole yet, but they could be out there somewhere.”

“I hope we find one! I hope it makes a really big explosion!” Alfred cheered.

Ivan turned to face him, taking his eyes off the sky, “My turn.”

“Alright big guy, tell me something I don’t know.”

Ivan pretended to think about it, “I love you.”

Alfred was not expecting that, and his world slowed to a stop. Neither man was paying attention to space anymore. The only thing Alfred was certain of was, “I love you too.” His voice was serious as he made the revelation, before he laughed loudly, “I guess you win Vanya. You told me something that I didn’t already know.” 

With that, the two of them bounced back ideas and possibilities of things that could be out there, neither of them deciding to mention how Ivan was supposed to only tell him something that could do with space. Space is large, vast, and unknown. It’s boundless and limitless. The two of them, on this clear Christmas night, were slowly finding all of the similarities between their love for one another, and the topic that they both found so much interest in. 

A truly magical first Christmas.


End file.
